Servants?

I was out with Anna last week and we bumped into Ester, Ruth and Samuel, our friend Glory's kids. They are our friends who live in the slums. A lady for the appartments interrogated me on why was I talking with them. Are they my servants? No they are my friends.

I guess she did not like that answer so she then switched to speaking in Tamil and was questioning Ester, the eldest in the group. They may not look rich. So what! They are my friends and why do people have to think because I am white I am financially rich or higher class than the average person. I am no better than Gloria or her family. God loves me too thankfully.

I try to serve with Gloria versus being served by her. Life is better that way. I have a friend connection being able to share life and my heart with her. We some how communicate even though she knows only very basic English and I know about 10 words in Tamil. We share the same God and the same goal to raise our kids with Jesus’ love.

Peoples Names

Here in India it is common for most people to either have a servant or be one. I have friends here who are not incredibly rich but have a driver, a maid or a cook.

Labor is cheap but respect is expensive.

If you have been looking at our blog you know, we respect and love Gnana. She watches Anna, takes her to and from school, cooks, cleans and is jack-of-all-trades. If it was not for her, I could not work at Growing Opportunity. When people say where is your maid I use her name.My friends refer to their "servants" as the maid, the ironer, the banana guy, the driver, the newspaper salesman or the nanny.

It does not matter if they worked for them 22 years, there are still addressed by their lowly titles. That would mean I am the intern. Even if you take pride in your work do you want to be known as the paper work guy of cube 212?

I call people by their names: Sabo, Sugie, Shrini, Angel, Rosie and there is even a Nancy on this block. I usually surprise them when I do :)

They serve like we should to others. They don't make requests, they go about their work and do more than they should at times. They love your kids and help raise them. They do a lot and they deserve respect, they deserve to have their names used.